In a 10-minute speech, which the church made available on YouTube, Jeffress addresses the attention he had received in the past week without mentioning Tebow by name. But he strongly rebukes those who didn't stand by him (about 7:23 into the speech).

"I am grateful for men of God like these who are willing to stand up and act like men rather than wimping out when it gets a little controversial and an inconvenient thing to stand for the truth," Jeffress said, as transcribed by USAToday. "God bless men like that.

"There are some people who would say 'God's given me a different ministry. God has called me to go preach about the love of God. I'm not called to preach about sin and controversial things. I've been called to preach about the love of God. And they're sincere when they say that. But they are sincerely wrong. The fact is you cannot talk about the love of God. The love of God has no meaning whatsoever unless you understand the judgment of God that all of us deserve."

Tebow canceled the speech, apparently because of controversial statements that Jeffresshas made about Mormonism, Catholicism and other faiths as well as homosexuality.

Jeffress, who often makes headlines for his sharp-edged pronouncements on morality and politics, said Tebow appeared to struggle with his decision before finally giving in to the recommendations of others.

“There doesn’t seem to be any daylight between what we believe,” Jeffress said last week, noting that Tebow is a member of First Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Fla. “He simply attributed it to needing to stay away from controversy.”

Jeffress said the quarterback, who gained fame for his expressive faith and electric but inconsistent performance in Denver in 2011, didn’t explain why he needed to avoid controversy. But Jeffress said his presumption was it was related to the likelihood of Tebow moving to a new team.